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Miami bounced back from their humiliating loss yesterday, turning the page to even the series at one. They achieved this with a clutch hit in the 6th inning by Max Galvin, breaking the 4-4 deadlock. Miami’s closer, Brian Walter, delivered two solid innings without allowing a hit and struck out two, setting the stage for the tiebreaker tomorrow.
Miami needed to strike first and maintain a solid defense to secure victory. AJ Ciscar faced a significant challenge after Duke had dominated the previous game: he had to ensure they wouldn’t take an early charge. Help from his teammates was crucial to break their rut of failing to get the ball into play and start scoring runs. The team received clear marching orders and executed them well—except in the 4th inning when AJ’s performance dropped drastically. He went from throwing 29 pitches through the third inning with one hit yielded and no score, to 74 pitches in the fourth, leading to a collapse of the game plan. This resulted in three consecutive hits following a hit batter and a costly error, turning a 4-run lead into a nail-biting one-run advantage for Miami.
Miami was the first to strike in the second inning with Derek Williams’ eighth homer of the year, giving Miami its first run. They played aggressive baserunning, adding two more runs started by Dorian’s double, who proceeded to steal third base, and heads-up running by Max Galvin, who walked and then came all the way from first to score when he noticed the right fielder lack of attention after Todd Hudson’s single to right, giving Miami a commanding 3-0 lead. Daniel Cuvet kicked off the third inning with his impressive sixth home run of the season, extending Miami’s lead to 4-0 and keeping Duke scoreless.
Miami’s game plan was initially effective but unraveled in the fourth inning when a hit batter with one out triggered a chain reaction. Three consecutive singles followed, allowing Duke to score for the first time and loading the bases. A potential double play was thwarted due to Dorian’s mishandling of the ball, resulting in another run. The situation worsened for Miami when Jake made an error, narrowing the gap and bringing Duke within one run of Miami’s previously commanding four-run lead. JD hesitated too long to relieve AJ, watching his pitch count escalate from 29 to 74 before finally bringing in Alex Giroux, who had made a brief appearance the night before and hit back-to-back batters—first loading the bases and then conceding a run with the second. However, Alex redeemed himself tonight by striking out the batter and earning the win, though he would need help to do so.
Duke tied the score in the 5th, swinging the momentum in their favor, while Miami seemed to falter yet again. Miami received help in the 6th to swing the momentum back in their favor. Tanner Smith struck with a single to second base and advanced to second due to a costly throwing error by the second baseman. This misstep would prove detrimental, as errors typically do. Max Gavin stepped up next, seizing the first pitch and driving it through the middle to secure the go-ahead run.
Alex pitched the next two innings, allowing only a single before the call to the bullpen brought in our true Closer, Brian Walters, to start the 8th inning. The Duke hitters were unable to mount any sort of attack, with Brian keeping them hitless and allowing only a walk to secure the save, setting the stage for the rubber match tomorrow.
Offensively, a pair of home runs from Daniel Cuvet and Derek Williams and a key hit from Max Galvin ensured tonight’s win. Both Daniel and Max had multiple hits, and we did a better job of tying our hits together, with Todd Hudson getting a crucial single in the third and the heads-up running of Max Galvin in the second, along with his go-ahead single in the sixth were pivotal in shifting the momentum in the Cane’s favor.
Tonight’s win could not have been achieved without the quality of pitching. Unlike the eight pitchers in a losing effort Friday night, AJ and Brian, along with three quality innings by Alex, held Duke to five hits compared to the twelve yesterday, which is a testament to tonight’s key to victory.
Rubber match tomorrow at 1:00 PM with Tate DeRias in his second start. Unlike Duke today, Miami needs to build on what it achieved today to ensure a series win.
